There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.
The earthquake registered a preliminary magnitude of 6.9 and was
centred beneath the Flores Sea, about 70km west of the town of Bau
Bau in south-east Sulawesi, said Mr Budi Sulistiono, an official
from the Indonesian meteorological agency. It struck at 8.04am
Indonesian time (0004 GMT), he said.
Mr Sulistiono said the depth of the quake was about 37km under the
Flores Sea.
The US Geological Survey said the quake measured magnitude 6.5 and was not related to the massive magnitude-9.0 quake that hit western Indonesia on Dec 26, triggering a tsunami that killed more than 169,000 people across southern Asian and eastern Africa.
Mr Rahmat Triono, an official of the Geophysics and Meteorological
Agency in Jakarta, said any undersea quake had the potential to
trigger a tsunami, but there had been no indication of one in
Sulawesi on Saturday.
In Kendari, the capital of South-east Sulawesi province, local
resident Yuli Mochtar said the quake caused hundreds of people to
run out into the streets.
'We felt the quake and we just ran out of the house in panic,' Mr
Mochtar said. 'But we have not seen any damage yet.'
Residents of Bau Bau said there were no reports of any casualties or damage. -- AP